Glover guilty of second-degree murder

A Henderson County jury has found Jermaine Deprie Glover guilty of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of 21-year-old Misty Lynn Carter.

By EMILY WEAVERTimes-News Staff Writer

A Henderson County jury returned to the courtroom Tuesday morning with a one-word verdict in a rare retrial that would relieve one family and rock another. “Guilty.”Jermaine Deprie Glover, 40, of Hendersonville was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2009 slaying of his former girlfriend and roommate, 21-year-old Misty Lynn Carter. The jury deliberated six hours before returning with a unanimous decision in Glover’s second trial, after the first panel of jurors found themselves “hopelessly deadlocked.” Carter’s family appeared relieved, although they knew no words would bring her back. The prosecutors were pleased. The defense was disappointed. And in the crowded courtroom, Glover’s hopes of release were deflated.He has been in jail for two years and nine months. At 11 a.m. Tuesday, he was sentenced to 13 to 16 years in prison and will get credit for time served. Glover is appealing his conviction.Defense attorney Greg Newman said Glover was “very saddened” by the verdict. “Though he’s disappointed, he has been realistic of the possible consequence of being in this position,” he said. “He’s always maintained that he didn’t do it.”But one key witness who only testified in the second trial may have been the clincher. Roger Burns, who lived near Glover at the time of the murder, became the only witness to put Glover and Carter together the day she died. On April 26, Burns told the court that a disturbance at Glover’s home awoke him around 3 a.m. on Oct. 19, 2009, the day Carter’s body was found along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Buncombe County. Burns said he heard two men and a woman “cussing and fussing,” and identified two of the voices as belonging to Carter and Glover. When the argument ended, he said, the lights went out in Glover’s house at 52 Piney Ridge Court, and he saw Glover back his truck up to his porch.During closing arguments, prosecutors highlighted the new testimony as supporting their theory that Glover killed Carter and then discarded her body with the help of an accomplice. No accomplice has been named.District Attorney Jeff Hunt said Burns’ testimony in this trial was “significant.” “He had been interviewed by the Buncombe County folks early on, but I think his testimony at the second trial placed emphasis there... when it was important,” he said.Newman hoped Burns’ testimony was not a deciding factor for the jury. He argued that the story Burns gave police changed over the years, and Burns’ first call to Crime Stoppers a couple of days after the murder never mentioned a disturbance. Investigators suspect Carter was killed between 1 p.m. Sunday and 2:44 a.m. Monday, when her car was seen pulling into a truck stop on Asheville Highway. In both trials, Jerry Knaus identified Glover as the driver of a truck he almost ran into on his way up the parkway around 6:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, 2009. Seconds later, Knaus spotted Carter’s nude and charred body smoldering in a gravel pull-off near mile marker 395. Knaus did not come forward with the story until a year later when Glover was arrested and he saw his photo in the media.The statement of another witness, who died before the first trial, said Glover’s truck was at his home around 6:30 a.m. Monday. It was not mentioned during closing arguments of the second trial.Newman suspects the main thing that made the trial outcome different this time was “a different group of people reviewing it.” He said a retrial in Henderson County, much like anywhere, is not a common occurrence. “It’s more the exception than the rule.” Verdicts in retrials often favor the state, he added.“It is unusual to invest that much time twice in a situation,” Hunt said, adding that he decided there was enough evidence to retry the case. This “vindicates our investing these resources.”He said his office was very pleased with the outcome. “I think the family is relieved to get it over with, and I think they agree with us that it’s finally justice for the murder of their daughter and sister,” Hunt said. “I think that the guilty verdict in this case represents another endorsement of the jury system. The jury system is alive and well in Henderson County.”Hunt said it was a “complicated case” that “straddled two prosecutorial districts,” but ended in a “just result.” Newman suspects there may be a “number of issues that can be raised” in Glover’s appeal of the case, including whether or not there was “sufficient evidence,” and the instructions given to jurors. Judge Alan Thornburg instructed jurors to find Glover guilty or not guilty of first- or second-degree murder in the trial that ended Monday. In the first trial, the jury was asked to consider his guilt or innocence of first- or second-degree murder and voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.“We just have to live with it and let the appeals process take place,” Newman said. “He will still have the chance to come home and resume his life.”Carter’s family could not be reached for comment.Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.

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